Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,
I can't believe that I have to write this same topic for Part II because just as I went to register as a voter (yes, only now that I register!), the officer at the post office reproduce a confirmation sheet using the information from my Identification Card where she put race as Malay for me and asked me to sign the sheet. I explained to her that I am not a Malay. She said, is it not written in my Identification Card. We checked and there was no such information on it, only my religion - Islam - on it. Clearly, from my very long name, there is no way that she can't believe that I'm a Chinese, especially with my surname 'Phang' on it. Then she said, but your name is a Malay name. I was like - NEVER MIND. I signed it anyway, since the queue behind me was quite long. I was going to say, that is an Arabic name, even your name is an Arabic name, only it is written in English letters.
Is it that difficult to understand the difference between race and religion?
Probably I'm expecting too much.
ALLAHU'alam.
Wassalam.
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Ah Choo (to me this will always be your name!),
ReplyDeleteI understand your predicament and I feel obliged for some reason to apologise for my fellow Malay Muslims' ignorance, though really, the burden to understand and gain knowledge lies solely on their shoulders.
I could only think of one race which identifies itself with a religion, and that's the Jews. It is funny to find Malay Muslims hating the Jews so much while they don't realise their own behaviour is getting closer to the thing they hate the most. Perhaps one day the Malay Muslims will become the Jews of South East Asia, though with our current achievements in business, education, science, and technology, I'd say it's a very very long call =p
The average Malay is sadly racist, think of him/herself pious because of the rituals s/he performs while remaining ignorant of the gist of the religion, and because of their ignorance, tend to take things at a face value and easily influenced by figures of authority. And of course, they tend to be the loudest when it comes to matters of religion and race.
I am not proud of these traits, and I myself has been called a traitor to my own race for so many times that I had lost count. Therefore I feel for you and again, I apologise on their behalf =)
P/S; Malay names are actually names like Kenanga, Melur, etc etc.
Assalamualaikum,
ReplyDeleteDon't apologise, you don't have any control over these people and I know you are different from them. Malaysians who read a lot of books and see different kind of people will understand what we are talking about here. I like your analogy and I wonder what are the Jews make out people like Muhammad Asad, etc.
The real Malay names also include Hitam, Putih, Merah, Joyah, etc. Anyway, may be it's up to us to educate people.
ALLAHU'alam.
Wassalam.
p/s: Yeah, call me Ah Choo as you have known me that way.